Category: iFAQs

For our iFAQ this week, we decided to ask councillors, smaller parties, and other relevant stakeholders for their views on what National Citizen Service does for Medway. Partly because we’re two middle aged guys who know very little about the NCS, and partly because it’s been in the news a bit recently.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

We’re not going to lie. Our iFAQ this week is a true classic of the genre. Not for our question, but for the response it yielded.

You might have noticed that we are in the midst of a Conservative leadership election, which will ultimately decide the next Prime Minister of the country and the direction of travel we’ll be taking on Brexit and other issues. As such, we decided to ask our 33 Conservative councillors who they will be supporting, and what their chosen candidate would do for their residents in Medway.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

As our new councillors in Medway get settled into their roles, we decided to ask them all a couple of basic questions about their motivations for wanting to be a councillor and the priorities for their ward.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

As we move beyond the recent local elections, we start to look ahead to the coming four years on Medway Council. We contacted all re-elected councillors to ask them what they think the priorities for the authority should be going forwards, along with the biggest issues facing their wards.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

Following the local elections in Medway where ultimately not very much changed on a very low turnout, we decided to ask the leaders of the two main parties what messages they would be taking away from these results.

As usual, we told both of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

On April 18, we held our Medway Leaders’ Debate, where we invited the two potential future leaders of Medway Council – Cllr Jarrett of Medway Conservatives and Cllr Vince Maple of Medway Labour – to answer questions about the future of Medway. If you weren’t one of the people lucky enough to be in the audience, you can watch the full event back in full here.

Following the debate, we invited representatives of the smaller parties, who did not meet the eligibility criteria for the debate itself, to answer some of the questions asked on the night. Below are their answers, presented entirely unedited.

With local elections rapidly approaching, but the country still discussing little other than Brexit, we decided to ask all councillors standing for re-election what impact Brexit was likely to have on the elections and their campaigns.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

Approaching the upcoming local elections, a number of sitting Medway councillors have decided to stand down and not seek re-election. As such, we contacted all of them to ask a few questions about their experiences as a councillor.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

The local election campaign in Medway is now properly underway, with a surge in activity across Medway from a wide range of candidates and parties. One of the most striking things early in the campaign was this leaflet being distributed throughout Watling ward, not in favour of any one party, but solely against Conservative candidate Andrew Lawrence.

Andrew Lawrence has since responded to the leaflet via his blog. We reached out to all Medway parties that took part in the 2015 elections and those taking part in this one to get their views on the leaflet, and if they fancied admitting being behind it. Well, it was worth a shot.

As usual, we told all parties that we would publish their responses entirely unedited. They are published below in the order they were received.